Tag: banned books week

Held annually during the last week of September, Banned Books Week is a time for librarians, booksellers, teachers, publishers, journalists and readers to highlight the value of free and open access to information.

In 2017, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) logged 354 challenges to library, school and university materials and services (including books, DVDs, magazines, programs, databases, games, exhibits and displays). In those 354 challenges, 416 books were targeted. The OIF estimates that 82-97% of challenges remain unreported.

Stop by the library this week to check out our Banned Books Week pop-up display, and grab a button and bookmark to show your support for the freedom to read. We’ve also curated a Banned and Challenged Books eBook and audiobook collection in OverDrive.

According to the American Library Association website, “A [book] challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. As such, they are a threat to freedom of speech and choice.”

American Library Association

In 2016, 323 book challenges were recorded in the United States by the American Library Association. (It is worth noting that many challenges go unreported.) The majority of challenges occurred against materials found in public and school libraries, and were most commonly brought by parents and public library users. The most common reasons for book challenges are: sexually explicit subject matter, offensive language, and religious viewpoint. ALA does not track international challenges, but history records many instances in which books have been censored and/or suppressed based on political viewpoint and other reasons deemed offensive to the state or nation.

In conjunction with Banned Books Week 2017 and through the month of October/beginning of November, we’ve provided a selection of fiction titles that have been reported as challenged and/or banned by public libraries, school libraries, and countries. Also included are some nonfiction titles on censorship topics. Stop by to take a look at the books on display or view them online (and place holds on anything you’d like to check out). Books on display each contain a banned-books-themed bookmark, which readers are welcome to keep. We’ve also made some buttons which are free for the taking.

“Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight.” – Stephen Chbosky, author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Each year, libraries and bookstores around the country celebrate our freedom to read during Banned Books Week. Since the first Banned Books Week in 1982, the American Library Association reports that over 11,000 books have been challenged or banned in the United States.

A challenge is when a person or group tries to “remove or restrict” a book from a library or school. Banning is when that item is removed completely from a library or school.

J.K. Rowling, Judy Blume, and Stephen Chbosky are among the authors whose works have been banned or challenged in the United States. As recently as last year, there were over 300 challenges reported to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

The individuals or groups challenging these books have wanted them banned for a myriad of reasons. Anti-family (Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples), “depictions of bullying” (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie), and “controversial issues” (The Bluest Eyeby Toni Morrison) are just the tip of the iceberg. All three of these works were among the top ten most challenged titles of 2014 and are part of our “Read at Your Own Risk!” display.

Celebrate your freedom to read by checking out one of these books, on display in the library through October 5. During Banned Books Week, being held September 27 – October 3, stop by the Library Services desk to get a free Banned Books Week bookmark (while supplies last). And don’t forget search our Overdrive collection for downloadable challenged eBooks like The Hunger Games, Freakonomics, and Looking for Alaska.

Display co-produced by Amy Galante and Kristen Richards from Library Services. Kristen’s favorite controversial book is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Amy is partial to Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more scandalous literary picks from the Bentley community.

Banned Books Week, an annual event celebrating the freedom to read, is taking place this week, September 21 – 27, 2014. During Banned Books Week, librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, authors, teachers and readers work together to draw attention to the freedom to seek and express ideas. You can follow this national conversation by liking the Banned Books Week page on Facebook, following the #bannedbooksweek hashtag on Twitter, and watching the celebrity Virtual Read-Out videos on the Banned Books Week YouTube Channel.

In 2013, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) logged 307 book challenges. You can find specific details about some of those challenges in this document: 2013-2014 Books Challenged or Banned. Last year, challenges were made against classics such as Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man, as well as contemporary bestsellers such as John Green’s Looking for Alaska. In one instance, a history textbook was challenged in a Florida county, and protesters went so far as to recommend that student volunteers tear a chapter out of the textbook.

Banned Books WeekSeptember 30 – October 6, 2012

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week, a week used to recognize our freedom to read and to call attention to attempts to challenge that freedom. Banned Books Week is especially celebrated in the library community. This is not surprising, given that libraries have a long history of, and commitment to, providing unfettered access to information and ideas.

Last year, libraries across the United States reported 326 book challenges to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

Stop by the library to view our display of banned and challenged books. You’ll find a sampling of classic and contemporary titles that have been at the center of controversy at schools and libraries in the United States and abroad, along with a description of why each title was challenged.

You can celebrate Banned Books Week in many ways:

Browse the American Library Association’s lists of frequently challenged books and pick a banned book to read this week. How many of the frequently challenged titles have you already read?

What do The Great Gatsby, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Harry Potter have in common? They are all books that have been banned or challenged at libraries and schools in the United States. In fact, it’s likely you have read a few Banned or Challenged Classics.

Beginning in 1982, Banned Books Week (BBW) has been celebrated annually to mark the importance of intellectual freedom, the freedom to read and the First Amendment. Each year the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles and publishes a list of the top ten most frequently challenged books at libraries and schools.

Over the past nine years (2001-2009), the OIF reported that American libraries were faced with total of 4,312 challenges, which included:

1,413 challenges due to “sexually explicit” material

1,125 challenges due to “offensive language”

897 challenges due to material deemed “unsuited to age group”

514 challenges due to “violence”

344 challenges due to “homosexuality”

109 materials were challenged because they were “anti-family”

269 were challenged because of their “religious viewpoints”

Thanks to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, and students, most book challenges are unsuccessful. We hope that during Banned Books Week 2010 you’ll take a moment to think about your freedom to read and consider the role that libraries play in protecting that right!

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; and the National Association of College Stores. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.